Toyota Motor Corp., which recalled 4.3 million vehicles in November to fix sticky accelerator pedals, now plans a second action to recall 2.3 million vehicles for a similar problem. The latest recall includes 1.7 million vehicles that also were covered by the first action.

Both recalls are a response to consumer reports of difficulty in slowing Toyota vehicles. Late last year the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed five fatalities linked to the problem. The large recalls are tarnishing the company’s once-invincible quality reputation.

The first recall was to fix a design flaw that could allow the accelerator pedal to become jammed against the floormat. The company began shortening the pedal, removing some floor padding and in some cases installing a brake override system.

Until now Toyota has denied there was any mechanical or electronic flaw in the pedal or throttle system. Last fall the company urged customers to remove floormats as an interim fix. But similar accidents were reported in vehicles from which the floormats had been removed. Last month four people in Texas died in a crash involving a Toyota, after which police found the floormats in the car’s trunk.

Toyota now admits that in “rare” cases, a worn throttle pedal may mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or be slow to return to idle. The company advises that firm, steady application of the brakes will slow the vehicle. Toyota says it is still working to find a solution.

The second recall includes the 2005-2010 Avalon large sedan, 2007-2010 Camry midsize sedan and Tundra fullsize pickup, 2008-2010 Sequoia SUV, 2009-2010 RAV4 small crossover, Corolla compact car and Matrix crossover, and the 2010 Highlander SUV. The action also includes the 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe, which is based on the Matrix. The Avalon, Camry and Tundra models were included in the first recall.

General Motors Co.’s Adam Opel GmbH unit says it will shutter its car assembly plant in Antwerp, Belgium, by about mid-year, the first major move in a restructuring plan that includes shedding 8,300 jobs and reducing capacity by one-fifth.

It will be the first major auto plant closure in Europe since 2006, when GM shut down a van plant in Portugal. Opel says it doesn’t plan to close additional facilities, but says it will cut 4,000 jobs at its four factories in Germany. The company’s works council said yesterday that because of the Antwerp decision it will not offer Opel the €265 million ($374 million) of concessions the company is seeking.

The Antwerp plant, which builds the Opel Astra compact car, has 2,600 employees. A small SUV that was to be produced there in the future will now be made by GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. in South Korea. Workers have blockaded access to the factory since Wednesday, after news reports that a closing announcement was imminent. Opel says it will negotiate shutdown terms with its unions.

Opel says it chose the Antwerp plant because the Astra also is made at other plants, which makes it easier to shift production. The factory made 88,900 Astras last year, down from 196,300 two years earlier.

Opel’s European works council charges that the decision breaches the company’s earlier agreement to build the small SUV there. The company says it never made a firm commitment.

Speculation about the plant’s closing has circulated for nearly a year. Opel’s prospective buyers, Magna International Inc. and OAO Sberbank, said last summer they would close the Antwerp facility. After GM decided in November not to sell Opel, it described the Belgian plant’s future as “uncertain.”

A federal bankruptcy judge has approved the outline of a plan to liquidate and distribute the assets of the bankrupt Chrysler LLC that were left behind in Chapter 11 when the company formed Chrysler Group LLC.

Unsecured creditors and some secured creditors will vote on the plan by March 2. A confirmation hearing in bankruptcy court is scheduled for March 16.

Under the plan, the U.S. government would recover none of its roughly $4 billion of loans to old Chrysler, an outcome that was widely expected. Other secured creditors would probably recover their claims—an estimated $21 million—in full.

Unsecured creditors would get nothing except the possible proceeds from a lawsuit against Daimler AG. Their suit alleges that Daimler enriched itself at the expense of creditors before selling Chrysler and its finance arm to hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management in August 2007. Daimler calls the claims baseless.

Old Chrysler has been selling or closing its remaining assets, which include land, plants, equipment and company cars. Sales so far have raised more than $122 million.

A federal bankruptcy judge has ordered the U.S. Trustee to give Visteon Corp. retirees a place on the official creditors committee or create a new committee for them, says Bloomberg News.

The move will give participants in Visteon’s U.S. pension plans a greater voice in the company’s reorganization. The retirees oppose Visteon’s proposal to transfer three of its four U.S. pension plans to federal pension insurer Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. The company has said it cannot afford to maintain the plans because they would require $260 million in contributions over the next six years.

Ford Motor Co.’s negotiations to sell its Volvo Cars unit to China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. are not going as smoothly as the two companies have portrayed them, reports Sweden’s Dagens Industri.

Joran Hagglund, an official at Sweden’s enterprise ministry, tells the business daily that positive indications about the talks have been “exaggerated.” He says Geely is eager to show progress, while Ford, which had hoped to close a deal by the end of 2009, is under pressure to complete the sale. Ford now hopes to sign a definitive agreement in the current quarter and close the deal by mid-year.

Dagens Industri also cites anonymous sources who say intellectual property rights are a source of contention. The newspaper says Geely is insisting on obtaining rights to all of Volvo’s technology, but Ford is resisting the demand.

Penske Corp. plans to sell some of its shares in Penske Automotive Group Inc. through a secondary stock offering by the auto retail giant that would reduce its stake to 34.7% from 40.1%. Penske Group Chairman and CEO Roger Penske is not selling any of the 0.8% stake he owns personally.

According to a registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, publicly held PAG will offer 5.75 million shares—5.5% of its outstanding shares—to raise about $94 million. Proceeds of the sale would go to Penske Corp. and several affiliates. Penske Corp. has pledged most of its PAG stake as collateral for credit lines, which it may pay down with proceeds of the sale.

Penske Corp. and Mitsui & Co., PAG’s second-largest shareholder, have formed a group that will have majority voting control of the company after the sale through its combined 51.7% stake.

A group of 215 former General Motors Co. dealers in Canada is suing the automaker in Ontario Superior Court, alleging the company violated franchise laws when it terminated dealer contracts last year during reorganization.

The suit, which seeks class-action status, asks for US$715 million in damages, according to Toronto-based law firm Sotos LP, which is representing the dealers.

China’s gross domestic product surged to $4.9 trillion last year, up 8.7% from 2008, paced by 10.7% year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the government’s statistics bureau.

Fourth-quarter growth was fueled by the government’s $586 billion stimulus program, easy credit and consumer spending incentives. Consumer and producer prices increased 1.9% and 1.7%, respectively, in December compared with a year earlier, according to the statistics bureau.

Economists expect China’s central bank to respond to the rapid expansion by hiking interest rates and tightening credit. The central bank has already ordered lenders this week to set aside larger reserves.